If you have a hard time making successful business connections, don’t despair. Anyone can be good at meeting people—if they use the right technique. The whole secret to making a positive connection is knowing how to attract people and inspire them to want to give you a chance. 

Here are seven proven strategies to help you make successful business connections:

1. Carry yourself well and look professional.  If people don’t know you at ALL, they are going to completely judge you by the way you look. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true. So, make sure you dress appropriately and your hair is well groomed. And be sure to look people straight in the eye and firmly shake their hand when meeting them.

Also, make a special effort to have a clear, professional speaking voice—particularly if your first encounter is over the phone. Practice what you’re going to say in your head or out loud, so you don’t stumble on your words.  

2. Know your outcomes.  What do you want from this person and what’s your objective?  You should ALWAYS ask yourself this question before you make contact with anyone. In a business situation, you want to be really clear as to what your outcomes are. For most business people, the outcomes are to let prospects know who you are, why they should be interested in you, and what your goal is.   

3. Always smile.  When you see someone smile, it tells you that they’re approachable. People like people who seem approachable because they feel more comfortable with them and will trust them more. So make sure you show those pearly whites and practice being sincere with your smile.  And if you’re contacting someone over the phone, it’s important to still smile because people can tell by your voice if you’re not. 

4. Be honest.  People can tell when someone is giving them baloney, so be sincere when you make contact with someone. You’re taking up their most precious commodity - time.  And if you’re in sales and have to read from a script, memorize it so you can talk naturally. This will make you seem more genuine and credible.

5. Offer something they need.  It’s so important to not bother people with things that they don’t have time for or need. If you’re not sure that they’ll be interested in what you have to say, make your introduction short and sweet. Then see if they’re interested in hearing the rest of what you’re articulating. To position your introduction to impress them, do some research to find out what would interest them.  You can conduct your research by going on the Internet, reading about them in magazines, going to the library, talking with their employees or meeting their business associates.

6. Go out of your way.  If someone is legitimately busy and they can’t talk with you, go out of your way to find out what’s convenient for them.  Also, if the person you’re trying to contact tells you they feel more comfortable meeting you in person rather than having a telephone discussion, go meet them if it’s really important to you.  

7. Be bold and daring…but in a tactful way.  Make the call or make an in-person introduction to the person you want to meet.  Don’t sit around and contemplate if you should do it because it will never happen.  It’s natural to get intimidated, but be bold and daring by pushing your fear away and taking action. However, always conduct yourself in a tactful way, so you don’t harass people. Otherwise, people won’t like you and won’t want to listen to what you have to say. 

Don’t be intimidated at the thought of contacting successful people. Remember: They are still people, and they’re no different from you. So get out there and make contact. The worst that could happen is that they say, “No, I’m not interested”. The best thing that could happen is that they are interested!  So as Nike says: “Just do it.”  Start taking steps toward making successful connections.

Copyright 2005 Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
http://www.connecticutsecretary.com
kms@connecticutsecretary.com
Transcription Services
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Posted by Kate Smalley at 09:44 AM | Permalink

In fact, about one third of all U.S. homes have offices, according to Wirthlin Worldwide, a national opinion research and strategic consulting firm. These home office users are most likely married, middle-aged, educated and earning an income of $50,000 or more a year.

But not every business is suited to operate at home, experts say. Home offices are more acceptable for appointment-based businesses than for retail enterprises. For example, if a business is selling products, a store front off site would project a more professional option. 

Home office users can set up work areas in a spare bedroom, the third stall of a garage or a separate, unattached structure. If there’s no dedicated space available, an extra room could be added. And if the business doesn’t require face-to-face customer interaction, a make-shift office in any free corner will do until a more suitable arrangement can be made. 

No matter where their home office is set up, home-based workers get to enjoy the convenience and flexibility of operating from home. No long commutes. No office politics. Plus, they can generally work whenever they want, which can mean spending more quality time with their family.

Also, home-based workers can qualify for a variety of tax advantages, depending on the nature and extent of their business activity. Also, they may be eligible to deduct part of their utilities, home repair and maintenance, property tax and house insurance costs, based on the percentage of the residence they use for business purposes.

For example, a home-based worker using 100 square feet of a 1,000 square-foot-home for business could deduct 10 percent of the utilities, insurance, real estate taxes and a number of other indirect expenses.

Generally, to qualify for the deduction, the home must be the principal place for conducting business; the business must occupy a separate and identifiable space and use the space regularly and exclusively for business purposes. The deduction is also available to tax filers using a home office to complete business-related administrative or management activities. That is, as long as there is no other fixed location where those activities are conducted.

As a word of caution, home office deductions can be tricky and historically have drawn more attention from the IRS. To be on the safe side, home-based workers should consult with a tax advisor before taking the home office deduction.

Copyright, 2006, Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
Transcription Services and Administrative Support

Posted by Kate Smalley at 01:56 PM | Permalink

Customer testimonials can provide a positive and compelling endorsement of your products and services. They can add power to your claims about your product because they come from an unpaid, unbiased source: a customer. And they’re a key strategy to building consumer confidence and sales.

Making purchasing decisions can be intimidating—especially online where you can’t touch or “test” products prior to sale. Before buying a product, people often want to know if the product actually does what it promises, if the company is reputable and if the website is secure. That’s where customer testimonials come in.

Customer testimonials provide answers to important questions, build trust and close sales. And research shows that consumers often rely on customer testimonials when making purchasing decisions. In fact, testimonials have been known to increase sales by as much as 250 percent. In short, testimonials sell.

Components of a Testimonial

Testimonials generally include comments, a full name and descriptive identifier, such as a professional or informal title. Each of these elements is important to the anatomy of a testimonial for unique reasons.

Comments from customers—preferably placed inside direct quotes—deliver a powerful endorsement because they are unbiased. Attaching a complete name to clearly identify customers adds validity and punch. You might even include the person’s city and state. And providing a descriptive title can add even more weight, especially if the person has particular relevance to the product/service being endorsed.

How to Collect Testimonials

Collecting testimonials is relatively easy, as most satisfied customers will be eager to help. The most direct way to obtain testimonials is to simply ask. Whenever you complete a project with a customer, ask what they liked best about your product or service. You can gather their comments by telephone, blog, email, postcard or letter.

You can also gather feedback by providing a free trial to select users in your target market. Then ask them what they liked, didn’t like and their suggestions for improvement. Along the same lines, you could offer product trials or samples to an industry expert who is well suited to judge how your product works.

Regardless of how you acquire customers’ comments, always get permission to use their testimonials in your marketing materials. Better yet, have them sign a release form granting their permission.

How to Use Testimonials

You can put testimonials to work in all your marketing materials. Offline, testimonials can enliven brochures, print ads, posters and newsletters. Online, they can be an ideal way to enhance your web content. You can group them on a single web page or sprinkle them throughout your website.

You can use testimonials to emphasize key benefits of your product or service. But for the biggest impact, they should also quantify those benefits. For example, “Product X is less expensive and more effective than other similar products on the market. It cost 20 percent less and has help my company save 30 percent in labor costs.”  

Remember, the words of satisfied customers are powerful tools for building trust, your reputation and sales. So start harnessing the power of testimonials for your business today!

Posted by Kate Smalley at 05:47 PM | Permalink

   When it comes to sizing up job candidates, cultural fit is just as important to consider as qualifications.

   That’s why hiring managers must use their heart and not just their head during the selection process. Your company should use insight to assess how the job candidate’s character and personality — not just skills — will fit into the corporate culture.

   People are your company’s best, most important investment. This is especially true for executives and others in key positions that have the greatest potential to impact your bottom line.

   Whether you need a senior-level executive or a department manager, you cannot afford to hire the wrong person. If you do, you could encounter a negative hiring experience, which can cost valuable time and money. Poor hiring situations can equate to lost production and business — not to mention other tangible costs related to interviewing, placement fees, relocation, and training. Minimum figures for executive turnover are reportedly four to five times the annual salary.

What Is Corporate Culture?

   By definition, corporate culture is “the act of developing intellectual and moral faculties, especially through education.” But in a broader sense, it’s “the moral, social, and behavioral norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes, and priorities of its members.”

   Every organization has its own ideals, which are often based on the values of the founders or top management. At Atlanta-based Home Depot, for example, keeping all employees interested in the business is a top priority. All new employees — even executives — spend two weeks working on the sales floor, learning what customers want and need, and receiving a ground-zero view of the company's core business.

   Your culture, for instance, might emphasize respecting others and working as a team. If that’s the case, you should focus on hiring people who have demonstrated these characteristics in their previous work experiences.  

How To Choose The Best Candidate For Your Culture

   So exactly how do you determine if a prospect is the best match for your organization? Although some companies rely on culture and personality assessments, there’s no scientific formula for hiring success. A positive employment experience requires a combination of background research, assessment and pure instinct.

   First, you must clearly define, clarify and understand your company’s core values. Review the ideals that are expressed in your organization's employee handbook, training sessions, marketing materials, and mission, vision, and goal statements. This will give you a “measuring stick” for weighing the behaviors required for success in your corporate culture with the prospective employee’s character.

   Next, thoroughly investigate the job candidate’s work performance and relationships from previous positions to ensure you have an accurate sense of his or her personality. Then simply factor in experience, education and other important considerations to determine which candidate best fits the position and your company.

Copyright 2004
Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
Administrative Support Needs – Transcription Services.
http://www.connecticutsecretary.com
kms@connecticutsecretary.com

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:32 PM | Permalink

Whoever said, “Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” only got it partially right when it comes to finding the formula for personal success, because great time management skills are also essential.

While some people are millionaires and some people are paupers, all people are on the same playing field with regards to time. Every living being is allotted 24 hours in a single day—no more, no less. So being able to accomplish your goals in any given day means being able to prioritize and multi-task.

If you compare any two people at a particular workplace and analyze their work habits, you’ll oftentimes notice differences in terms of productivity. Some people are simply better at managing their time and, therefore, getting more done with the time they have. If you’re not particularly good at prioritizing and managing tasks, you need not worry, because if you weren’t born with time management skills, you can learn them.

First of all, you’ll want to begin each new week by drawing up a schedule of things to do in the coming week. Start off by listing things you absolutely must do, and then jot down things you’d like to do. Once you’ve done this, you’ll want to look over your weekly schedule and consider whether, time wise, your schedule is realistic. If it isn’t, then you’ll need to drop off non-essentials and maybe factor in more time for the critical tasks.

Something else you’ll want to consider is that people with good time management skills tend to be fairly organized. If you’re work desk looks as though it were hit by a tornado, then tidy up a little bit. You’ll be surprised at how much more efficient you’ll be if you don’t have to wade through piles of paper to find what you’re looking for.

Combine time management skills with health, wealth and wisdom, and you’ve got the formula for personal success.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:28 PM | Permalink

Being self-employed, or freelancing, is a truly unique environment in which to work.  Basically, you wake up every morning and “reinvent the wheel.”  That means that you begin every day knowing that you’ll be required to provide your customers with something they feel that they can’t live without.  That’s not an easy thing for your stress level to handle. 

Being self-employed is synonymous with long hours, and working through those days that you really should have taken off.  It means that your stomach is repeatedly in knots and the adrenaline just doesn’t flow anymore.

If this describes you, you’re not alone.

Working for oneself from home, in front of the computer on weekdays and weekends is becoming evermore popular thanks to the internet and the World Wide Web.  However, with this ever growing popularity of independence, comes the increasing build of stress. 

Symptoms of high stress in those who are self-employed include:

• The inability to concentrate
• The general feeling of being uptight
• Biting everyone’s head off
• Aching shoulders and neck
• A constant headache
• Indecisiveness
• Fatigue
• Insomnia

Of course, these are only a sample of the symptoms, but they are among the most common.  If left unmanaged, stress can even develop further into more dangerous health conditions.

For people who are self-employed, proper stress management becomes critical to living a healthy, rewarding life.  Stress management itself is a matter of recognizing your individual stresses, finding the cause, and taking responsibility for these stresses, making changes where they are necessary.

This can be as simple as taking an aroma therapeutic bubble bath at night, yoga, or something more structured, such as consulting a stress management therapist.

If you are self-employed, and you wish to make certain that your stress level is managed effectively, you may wish to consult your doctor, who can advise you with regards to the techniques and strategies that will work best for you.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:27 PM | Permalink

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:26 PM | Permalink

This is an important topic for anyone who currently has a website and domain name, as well as for anyone interested in building an internet identity. I am sharing not only from personal experience (I have five active websites online at this time) but from my business, Connecticut Secretary, and the projects I have been involved with in creating and building websites for my customers.

Oftentimes customers will approach me after they have already chosen a domain name. What I investigate first is who actually owns that domain name. I no longer ask the customer directly, because 99.9% of the time the response is always "I do!" when in fact many of them unwittingly do not. Determining this is an easy step; you simply go to an independent domain registrar such as Register.com, http://www.register.com, and type in the domain name and choose whois when the results pop up. Feel free to go and type in connecticutsecretary.com and choose whois. You will see that I, Kate Smalley, am listed as the owner and administrative contact for Connecticut Secretary. The technical contact is simply the hosting service I have chosen.

The problem we run into is when individuals have chosen to purchase their domain name through a hosting service at a discounted rate. The hosting service is the company that purchases and owns your domain name, and in essence you sometimes just end up renting it along with your hosting service. This is a great way for the hosting company to ensure continued business. Think about if, in the future, you decide to change hosting services. Who do you think you will have to contact to have your domain redirected to another hosting provider? How anxious do you think they will be to provide service to you? How quickly do you feel they will redirect your url? What will happen if they forget to renew your domain name and someone else obtains control and ownership of it? What happens if that hosting company goes out of business? I have seen it happen. To take this conversation one step further, there are now hosting companies that will purchase the domain in your name, so you are the official owner, but they still retain control over your usage of the account. An important point to remember is that ownership of an account as well as having the ability to use the account are important features when deciding how to purchase your domain name.
 

I am not saying this is a fact with all hosting companies; I only ask you to consider it for your own well-being and future viability on the internet. Purchasing a domain name yourself is only a matter of spending a few extra dollars per year, and is well worth the security of knowing you are the owner and the one in control of your domain. Consider the amount of work that you have put in to targeting and obtaining traffic through the search engines on your keywords and search terms. Think about all the business you will loose if you have to start over again with a new domain name from scratch.

I have changed hosting companies for Connecticut Secretary once. As my traffic increased, with my other hosting company, they limited my services and at times shut my site down because of server load. This was an important issue for me, as it resulted in lost sales and potential customer dissatisfaction, to say the least. Because I owned my domain independent of the hosting company, changing hosts was a very simple procedure. All I had to do was start services with a new hosting company and redirect my URL to that hosting company. Once the transfer was complete I was back in business without a hitch. There was work involved with rebuilding my site of course, but I was prepared for that. If I lost my domain name I would have lost a tremendous amount of existing traffic and potential business, not to mention my business identity that I had worked hard for.
 

There are so many topics that we can go into regarding domain names and your business on the internet: Cyber squatters and your responsibilities with regards to trademark policing, dispute resolution, the increase of typo squatters on the internet, choosing a relevant domain name, how to promote your business on the net through domain names, and so much more. With this article on domain name ownership, Connecticut Secretary wants to convey the fact that a domain name is a valuable asset, and I suggest that you take the time now to check and verify who actually owns your domain name. If you are about to start the process of obtaining an internet identity I suggest that you take the time to consider the future ramifications of the decisions you make today.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:23 PM | Permalink

I never knew what an executive coach was prior to launching my own secretarial support business. As I started working with different organizations and executives I learned more about the field of executive coaching services. I have learned that coaching is not only for the upper-level manager or executive, but it is for anyone who might need clarity, direction, or help with achieving goals on any level. Executive and Personal Coaching involves so many areas that it would be impossible to list them all.

For the upper level manager or executive it might provide a level of accountability that they might not have otherwise, and through this accountability give them more of an incentive to achieve their goals within a set time frame, or reach that next level, or it might help by just having someone to confidentially share their strategies with as a sounding board. Although coaching in the business environment usually does not focus on personal issues the majority of the time, it certainly can provide assistance in that area by improving effectiveness in many other areas, and reducing the overall stress that that person is under on a day-to-day basis. This certainly has a direct impact on the whole individual, not to mention the health benefits of overall stress reduction.

This performance-based coaching can help individuals achieve success on their own terms, allowing them to retain control of certain areas and maintain their own comfort level. At times is is obviously necessary to move outside of your comfort level to obtain results. Coaching not only seeks to constantly improve an individual's level of effectiveness, but it also examines that person's areas of success to reinforce areas of excellence by recognizing and building upon them.

From what I have heard, coaching helps develop and refine new skill sets that can help anyone navigate through the daily challenges of running a business, managing employees, making that career change, and overcoming the various obstacles that may be hindering us from achieving our goals. We each view situations differently based on our various experiences and environments. Executive coaching can provide a means of uncovering areas that we might not be seeing as clearly as we should, or areas of decision making where we might not fully understand or realize the final consequences of our actions.

Some individuals involved in management have commented on how becoming involved with Executive Coaching has improved their effectiveness to such a degree that it has had a noticeable effect on their morale, job satisfaction, and performance, and that they are able to see the big picture for the first time in regards to their future and goals. To take that comment a step further, these managers have also recognized a positive change in the way they managed people. Their employees were more satisfied as a direct result of the manager making improvements and adopting new management techniques and communication styles throughout their department or business.

A few questions for us all:

Where are you now? Where do you want to be in five years time? How will you get there? Will you know when you get there? How satisfied are you with your job? What steps can you take to get where you want to go both personally and professionally?

There are so many levels we can go into: The workaholic, time management issues, lacking goals, always being in emergency mode, not being able to relax outside of business hours, being dissatisfied with your job or career choice, problems dealing with co-workers or partners, communication problems, and the list can go on.

Parting thoughts:

A research study concludes that training combined with coaching increased productivity by 88%! (Gerald Olivero, K. Denise Bane, & Richard E. Kopelmann; Public Personnel Management; Washington; ISSN:00910260). The same ‘97 study concluded that training alone increased productivity by 22.4%.

In his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Stephen Covey tells us that most of us desire to be understood but that we do not seek to understand. Perhaps if we can change this behavior it would lead to tremendous improvements in our business and personal lives.

********************

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:20 PM | Permalink

What is a Virtual Assistant or Freelance Secretary?

More and more, experts are discovering the developing importance of working with a team of people who are specialized in their fields.  It is becoming a necessity to build a group of knowledgeable, capable team members for performing the various services and procedures.  To specialize means that each element of a business becomes both effective and efficient.  This explains the recognition that specialists are receiving by the business community, and the ways in which they are contributing to the businesses bottom line, and why generalists are rapidly being replaced by these focused experts.   It is simply accepted as the logical choice for any company that seeks well-run efficacy.

Every business day becomes that much stronger, more efficient and rewarding when instead of having team members concentrate on elements of the business in which they have no expertise, these issues are dealt with by a specialist who can complete the project in a timely manner, and with inherent superiority.

A popular example of such specialization among the business community is the way in which a full-service, freelance secretarial administrative support service provider can improve upon a company’s current work structure.   While the non-expert members of a company may usually have to turn away from their areas of specialization in order to perform additional tasks that are challenging, time-consuming and altogether tedious, a freelance secretary can take on that company’s entire team’s worth of administrative support material, and can use his or her unique, proficient skills in order to handle that work and allow the other team members to forget about them until they are completed.

Freelance secretaries with good technical skills can service businesses throughout the United States through the use the internet and email services.  Therefore, no matter where a business is located, or if it has many branches in different locations across America, Connecticut Secretary is capable of working with them all, while putting into practice their deep understanding of the finer points of transcription, secretarial, and administrative support services. This leads to a comprehension of a company’s specific needs, so that they may concentrate and give attention to their business instead of misusing their valuable time on administrative tasks.

Finding a qualified, quality freelance secretary for support work in your business can be a daunting task.  Fortunately, with the assistance of the Internet and the World Wide Web, a simple search can help you to locate a freelance secretary in your area, or one who is willing to provide service to your area, no matter your location. 

There are many different freelance secretaries out there, and not all are created equal.  For this reason, it’s important to look into references and feedback, while checking to see that there is a broad range of services provided, as well as fair pricing and turn-around times.  Contact information should be readily available on the website, and samples of the work should also be very accessible, in order to be able to gauge the freelance secretary’s skill and accuracy.  Additionally, if you have any questions, ask!  A good freelance secretary should be able to answer all of your questions in a timely manner, whether over the telephone or through e-mail.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:19 PM | Permalink

   Fostering teamwork is a top priority for many leaders, according to Suzanne Willis Zoglio, Ph.D., the author of Teams At Work: 7 Keys to Success, The Participative Leader. There are obvious benefits: increased productivity, improved customer service, more flexible systems and employee empowerment.

   A team is a group of people working towards a common goal. Generally, the objectives that a team sets out to accomplish can’t be effectively achieved by individuals. Think of it this way: TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More.

   Within a business, every employee serves as a crucial member of the company’s team. No matter where you are on the corporate ladder, you add intrinsic value to your organization through your strengths, talents, gifts and other assets.

   Some companies are taking a more impersonal approach to evaluating the assets of prospective and current employees. They employ high-tech data mining programs or personality tests to “crunch” information about employees’ skills, qualifications, experiences, workload and performance to assess their integrity, loyalty and satisfaction. Or, job candidates are being analyzed to predict their potential fit within the company’s culture.    

   This non-personalized approach to evaluation provides a quick, automated way to size up individuals. But it leaves less room for human instinct, which can be an important barometer of an employees true value.

Realizing Your Own Strengths, Talents and Gifts

   Despite what any data mining software may construe, your contributions as an employee form an integral link in the chain of your company’s success. And it’s important to understand the true value that you lend to your corporate team.

   Whether you’re part of a companywide or smaller work group, you should understand your role and responsibilities as a valued member. Picture yourself as a single, unique Lego building block that can help form a wonderful creation when connected to other pieces. But you have to be willing to add your block to the pile, so others can build on it to produce a masterpiece.

   It works the same way with our skills and talents. All of us have different abilities and unique perspectives that can be instrumental in solving complex problems. For example, if you’re an excellent organizer and coordinator, you should be open to using these skills to produce a smooth work flow within your department or project work group.

   At the same time, you should acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of other members of your team. Rather than hinder, try to help teammates employ their skills to the fullest. No one person knows and can do everything. Think of these quotes relating to teamwork:

•  “Coming together is a beginning. Staying together is progress. Working together is success.”  Henry Ford
• “We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin

• “If I could solve all the problems myself, I would.” Thomas Edison, when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants
• “The strength of the team is each individual member...the strength of each member is the team.”  Coach Phil Jackson - Chicago Bulls

•  “None of us is as smart as all of us.” Ken Blanchard
   

How To Help Build A Winning Team

   So how do you help build an effective team that contributes to a positive, successful work environment? Here are four tips to help you:

Contribute. Everyone is responsible for the success of their team. At group meetings, for example, be an active participant who contributes valuable content. If you’re not familiar with the discussion topic, silently observe the team's process and find ways to facilitate its progress. 

Communicate. Good communication is essential to success in the workplace. We’ve all had experiences of hearing the wrong message, assuming incorrectly, misinterpreting others' behaviors and feeling offended. That’s why it’s important to use clear communication, as well as active listening skills with fellow team members. Don’t just seek to be understood, but also seek to understand.

Be Committed. Commitment equals buy-in. A good work team needs to agree on and believe in its basic purpose — its mission or reason for existing. Work teams that have clarity of purpose can easily visualize their connection to organizational success. With strong commitment to move toward the same goal, the team creates a synergy — a force that is greater than the combined energy of its individual members.

Be Supportive. Good work teams are like close-knit families. They require acceptance, nurturing, patience and support. They won't always agree and often need to compromise their personal preferences to achieve the best results. Effective work teams need continued support and feedback to stay focused and to feel good about what they are doing. For a team to reach its full potential, members must be able to share their thoughts and ideas, and to see that these are valued and heard.  

Copyright 2004
Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
Administrative Support Needs – Transcription Services – Virtually!
http://www.connecticutsecretary.com
kms@connecticutsecretary.com

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:17 PM | Permalink

If you’ve been in the business world any time at all, you’re bound to have at least one story about how poor communication jeopardized or even killed part of your business.  The inability to communicate has always been a challenge in companies, and the advent of technology to make communication possible 24 hours a day, seven days a week hasn’t necessarily made it easier. In some ways, technology has just given us more ways to miscommunicate! 

Here are five tips to improve your business through better communication.  No matter whether you are the Great Communicator or a person who has a difficult time putting thoughts into words, you can get a better handle on your company and your productivity by being aware of critical communications issues. 

1.   Be aware of others’ communications issues.  Whether it’s a client or a co-worker, be aware of any particular challenges they may have with communication.  A co-worker who is dyslexic may be able to compensate most of the time, but it will be more difficult for her to read at the end of the day when she’s tired.  Leave her voice mails after 3 p.m.  A customer doesn’t know how to keyboard, so don’t expect long emails from him.  Call or meet with him when you need critical information.

2.   Address your internal communications issues.  Most companies have a myriad of challenges when it comes to communication, from disappearing executives who don’t tell anyone where they are going to employees who don’t share critical information with co-workers.  Write a weekly email newsletter to keep your employees up to date on changes or issues.  Make sure all employees have cell phone numbers of every staff member available at all times.  Require periodic reports from uncommunicative employees.

3.   Make meetings productive with an agenda and a report.  Whether it’s an internal staff or client meeting, keep it on track with an agenda.  Nothing gets accomplished in staff meetings without a focus, and an agenda helps with that.  Make sure every agenda has a short time allocated to discuss new business.  After the meeting, write a report, or minutes, so everyone is on board with decisions made during your time together.

4.   Get it in writing.  This is a basic tenet of business, but we all forget it from time to time.  Don’t let someone pass you in the hall at the office and ask you to do something – tell them to send you an email.  Have clients sign off on work by emailing or faxing their approval.  Put everything in writing and make sure that anyone affected by actions in the document are aware of their role and that they put it in writing, too!

5.   Don’t rely too much on technology.  Who hasn’t been the victim of a crashed hard drive, a cell phone dropped in a coffee cup, a misplaced PDA or a stolen laptop?  As great as technology is, backup systems are imperative.  Be sure you have yours in place!

Any business guru will tell you that better communication means fewer delays, upset customers and improved productivity.  That means a better bottom line and a lot fewer headaches!

Copyright 2004

Kate Smalley, Connecticut Secretary

kms@connecticutsecretary.com

http://www.connecticutsecretary.com

Freelance Secretarial and Transcription Services

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:16 PM | Permalink

If you’re a supervisor, you can’t possibly handle all of the work of your department directly. That’s why effective delegating is one of the most vital skills you can possess. In fact, it’s absolutely crucial to your success.  

Consider these words by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie: "The secret of success is not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it."

So what exactly is delegating? It’s simply the act of entrusting an activity to another person. More specifically, delegation is the downward transfer of formal authority from superior to subordinate. You empower an employee to act for you, while you remain accountable for the outcome.

Effective delegation involves the following process: working with an employee to establish goals, granting them sufficient authority and responsibility to accomplish the goals, often giving them the freedom to decide how the goals will be achieved, being available as a resource to help them with the assignment, and evaluating and rewarding their performance.

Benefits of Delegating

If you’re a new supervisor, delegation can be a major challenge because you might be apprehensive about giving up control or lack confidence in others’ abilities. But effective delegating offers a variety of benefits. It will free up some of your time, enhance your leadership skills, plus help subordinates expand their capabilities — all of which will benefit your company overall.

Nine Steps to Effective Delegating

To help you delegate more effectively, here are some suggestions from Thomas R. Horton, the author of Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please, and other experts:

1. Decide what tasks need to be delegated. Delegate any task — from administrative to technical — that someone else can perform better. Hand off jobs you dislike the most, that are least critical to the performance of your job or that will provide valuable experience for subordinates. But never delegate any task that would violate someone else’s privacy.

2. Choose the right person for the job.  Assess the skills and capabilities of subordinates and assign the task to the most appropriate person. Be sure to delegate the entire task because this gives the subordinate added responsibility and increases their motivation.  

3. Define the scope of the work and set expectations.  Give detailed explanations for what the job involves; including all key points. Provide information on what, why, when, who, where and how and clearly specify your preferred results. Write this information down.

4. Set deadlines.  Employees will usually feel more responsible for a task when they’re held accountable. With no deadline, people tend to procrastinate and lose motivation. So help delegates set reasonable deadlines. 

5. Identify methods for follow-up.  Work with your employees to set a time for review of performance, such as a meeting to check progress or a phone call to see if they have any questions. The follow-up should be mutually determined at the start. This way, subordinates know you are not trying to micromanage, but instead are trying to determine how work is progressing. 

6. Train delegates, if necessary. Make sure delegates know how to do the assignment. If they don’t, provide the necessary training. The initial training may take more time than doing it yourself. But it will benefit you and them in the long run.   

7. Delegate responsibility and authority — not methods.  As a leader, you need to grant your delegates the responsibility to make everyday decisions. Have trust in them and try to give them the freedom to work without you looking over their shoulders. Also, let subordinates complete tasks in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what you have specified. Otherwise, they might feel unmotivated and powerless if they have no room to think creatively and act as they see best. 

8. Evaluate performance.  After the assignment has been completed, evaluate results, not methods. Evaluate the task based on the expectations and standards set when it was delegated. If certain aspects were left out when you initially defined the job, don’t hold delegates responsible. Work with your employees to determine how you and they feel about how the performance turned out and how it can be improved.

9. Acknowledge accomplishments and provide recognition.  Always give recognition and praise for the work delegates have done.  By recognizing their efforts and letting them know you appreciate them, they will take greater pride in their work and may be more willing to help with assignments in the future.

Copyright 2004, Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
Freelance Secretarial and Transcription Services
http://www.connecticutsecretary.com
kms@connecticutsecretary.com

Nine Steps to Delegating Effectively as a Business Owner

If you’re a business owner, you can’t possibly handle all of your company's work directly. That’s why effective delegating is one of the most vital skills you can possess. In fact, it’s absolutely crucial to your success.  

Consider these words by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie: "The secret of success is not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it."

So what exactly is delegating? It’s simply the act of entrusting an activity to another person. More specifically, delegation is the downward transfer of formal authority from superior to subordinate. You empower an employee or subcontractor to act for you, while you remain accountable for the outcome.

Effective delegation involves the following process: working with an employee or subcontractor to establish goals, granting them sufficient authority and responsibility to accomplish the goals, often giving them the freedom to decide how the goals will be achieved, being available as a resource to help them with the assignment, and evaluating and rewarding their performance.

Benefits of Delegating

If you’re a new business owner, delegation can be a major challenge because you might be apprehensive about giving up control or lack confidence in others’ abilities. But effective delegating offers a variety of benefits. It will free up some of your time, enhance your leadership skills, plus help employees and subcontractors expand their capabilities — all of which will benefit your company overall.

Nine Steps to Effective Delegating

To help you delegate more effectively, here are some suggestions from Thomas R. Horton, the author of Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please, and other experts:

1. Decide what tasks need to be delegated. Delegate any task — from administrative to technical — that someone else can perform better. Hand off jobs you dislike the most, that are least critical to the performance of your job or that will provide valuable experience for subcontractors. But never delegate any task that would violate someone else’s privacy.

2. Choose the right person for the job.  Assess the skills and capabilities of subcontractors and assign the task to the most appropriate person. Be sure to delegate the entire task because this gives the subcontractor added responsibility and increases their motivation.  

3. Define the scope of the work and set expectations.  Give detailed explanations for what the job involves; including all key points. Provide information on what, why, when, who, where and how and clearly specify your preferred results. Write this information down.

4. Set deadlines.  Subcontractors will usually feel more responsible for a task when they’re held accountable. With no deadline, people tend to procrastinate and lose motivation. So help set reasonable deadlines.

5. Identify methods for follow-up.  Work with your subcontractors to set a time for review of performance, such as a meeting to check progress or a phone call to see if they have any questions. The follow-up should be mutually determined at the start. This way, subcontractors know you are not trying to micromanage, but instead are trying to determine how work is progressing. 

6. Train subcontractors, if necessary. Make sure subcontractors know how to do the assignment. If they don’t, provide the necessary training. The initial training may take more time than doing it yourself. But it will benefit you and them in the long run.   

7. Delegate responsibility and authority — not methods.  As a leader, you need to grant your subcontractors the responsibility to make everyday decisions. Have trust in them and try to give them the freedom to work without you looking over their shoulders. Also, let subcontractors complete tasks in the manner they choose, as long as the results are what you have specified. Otherwise, they might feel unmotivated and powerless if they have no room to think creatively and act as they see best. 

8. Evaluate performance.  After the assignment has been completed, evaluate results, not methods. Evaluate the task based on the expectations and standards set when it was delegated. If certain aspects were left out when you initially defined the job, don’t hold subcontractors responsible. Work with your subcontractors to determine how you and they feel about how the performance turned out and how it can be improved.

9. Acknowledge accomplishments and provide recognition.  Always give recognition and praise for the work subcontractors have done.  By recognizing their efforts and letting them know you appreciate them, they will take greater pride in their work and may be more willing to help with assignments in the future.

*****

Copyright 2004, Kate Smalley
Connecticut Secretary
http://www.connecticutsecretary.com
kms@connecticutsecretary.com
Freelance Secretarial and Transcription Services

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:15 PM | Permalink

Do you have stacks files piled up all over your office? Are you constantly rearranging project deadlines? Have you been passed over for promotions or projects when you knew you could do the job? Are you costing your company time and money because of misplaced files or documents?

If your answer is "yes" then it's time to get organized.

The Cost of Being Disorganized

Being disorganized eats up time, which equals money. For example, if your secretary wastes precious time going through her work to get to her work, he or she can lose (conservatively) 30 minutes each day. If his/her salary annual salary is $30,000, the time wasted will cost your company about $1,500 in lost productivity. That translates into about 25 cents per minute.

Or relate that to your salary: If you gross $90,000 each year, your time is worth 75 cents per minute. If you lose 30 minutes every day looking for your work, you’ll cost your company $4,500 per year in lost productivity.

Disorganization also can undermine your company’s credibility. In business, first impressions are important. A work environment that is poorly organized and cluttered, will project a negative image to your existing and potential customers.

Tips Easy Ways to Get Organized

Realize that you didn’t become disorganized overnight, and you won’t undo it in a day. But here are some strategies to help you get started: 

Get a good desk.  This doesn't necessarily mean an expensive desk, but one that is right for your personal work habits, business activities and other daily needs. If you regularly refer to books, manuals or publications, a desk with an upright hutch would make sense. Or if you use a computer and have ample floor space, consider an L-shaped desk. You can keep your computer on one section and still have a large workspace on the other. This configuration allows you to avoid juggling two priorities on the same desktop. 

Mange your time better. One of the simplest ways to make better use of your time is to rethink how long tasks will actually take, and schedule accordingly. Envision yourself completing a task from start to finish and what actions you must take. Until you get more accurate at estimating, add 25% to the time you think you'll need to complete a certain task. Another way to realize actual time is to time yourself while you do different things, such as paying bills, balancing the checkbook or going to the post office. You might be surprised to find out how long things actually take. Make notes on how long each task takes so you can remember to allow ample time.

Throw away old papers. From mail to fax to advertisements and memos, paper is the largest contributor to clutter in an office environment. Many people accumulate paper clutter due to a fear of throwing away something important. However, 80 percent of the paper you save "just in case" is never needed again. And if it is, chances are you can recreate or get it from another source. Remember, your trashcan and your shredder are your friends.

Make faster decisions. Clutter happens when you put off making decisions. Try to get into the habit of quickly deciding whether you should keep paper, mail and other items. The faster you can make confident decisions, the faster you'll keep things moving through your life, which prevents backlog.

Here are some other simple tips for organizing your work environment:

• Have a master to-do list for each day at your desk.
• Pre-Sort your mail: “To-File,” “To-Read,” “To-Contact” (write or call).
• Use a variety of containers to organize office supplies, paper clips and pens.
• Use a variety of desktop organizers or trays to organize papers that come across your desk.
• Color-coding your files makes it faster to find information.
• Sub-divide larger files with interior file folders.
• Return calls in batches, leaving specific messages and the time you called if the person you’re trying to reach isn’t available.
• Empty workspace of everything but the project you’re working on to cut down on distractions.
• At the end of each project or event, organize paperwork and file or store it.
• Straighten desk at the end of the day and especially at the end of the week so that you can start each morning with a clear desk.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:13 PM | Permalink

Professional transcriptionists can take standard or micro cassette tapes and produce a typed version of the text in a format that’s clear, consistent and correct. They can create transcripts of taped meetings, training sessions, seminars and conventions, as well as dictated letters, reports and manuscripts. Once the information is transcribed, you can easily email, fax or post it to a Website.

Accuracy Is Essential

Transcribing actually covers a variety of services. It can include whatever editing is necessary to make a report or letter “flow”. It can also include the tweaking sentence syntax, adjusting paragraphs, removing redundancies, and repairing general grammatical errors.

For some professions, a high degree of accuracy in transcripts is crucial. For example, medical transcriptionists must carefully listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other healthcare professionals and accurately transcribe them into reports, correspondence and other administrative materials that eventually become part of patients’ permanent files. Their ability to understand and correctly transcribe patient assessments and treatments reduces the chance of patients receiving ineffective or even harmful treatments and ultimately ensures high quality patient care.

Accuracy in transcripts is equally as important in other fields. In legal matters, it’s essential because all testimony must be rendered exactly as it’s spoken. Likewise, police detectives require precise transcripts of statements by suspects and witnesses. In the corporate arena, letters, meetings and training sessions must be properly transcribed for the sake of effective education and communication.   

Requirements For A Good Transcriptionist

Whether you need medical, legal or general transcribing for your business, accurate transcribing requires a unique set of skills. But if your staff lacks the expertise or time to transcribe materials in house, an outside company can easily fill the void.

Working with an outside vendor offers a variety of cost-saving benefits, including:

• No cost of special equipment.
• No hourly employee downtime. You pay only for production.
• No Social Security, payroll or unemployment taxes.
• No medical insurance benefits, paid vacations and sick leave

But before you run out and hire the first transcription company available, make sure it has the skills to meet your needs. The outsourcer you choose should be:

• Well-versed in the English language
• Knowledgeable of the rules of grammar
• Familiar with your industry
• Easily accessible for questions

For more information about professional transcription services, contact Kate Smalley,  Connecticut Secretary, at 203-641-3739 or kms@connecticutsecretary.com.

Posted by Kate Smalley at 08:12 PM | Permalink

One of the biggest challenges for small business owners is finding a fast, effective way to bring in new customers.  That’s because most owners must wear several hats – bookkeeper, technical support representative, human resources manager and marketer.  And, of course, owners must provide quality goods or services.  Finding the time to market can be especially difficult if you are a one- or two-person operation.

The reality is that spending the time to market is essential to maintaining or growing a business. It helps you avoid one of the biggest pitfalls in small business:  relying on a big client or two for the lion’s share of your company’s revenue.

Two things often happen in this scenario.  First, business tend to provide preferential treatment to the older, bigger client rather than to smaller, new client, which may cost some business. Secondly, businesses find themselves in a tenuous position by putting most of their eggs in one basket.  If the primary client leaves, the company could be economically devastated.

A healthy company always has new clients coming in the door as well as happy existing clients.  You can rely on word of mouth to get those new clients on board, but usually it’s not enough.  Here are three tips to help you stay on top of marketing efforts.

Get organized.  Hire someone to create a database of that huge stack of business cards that you’ve been keeping in your top desk drawer.  Make sure it’s a database you can easily use for emails or mailings – like your Microsoft Outlook contacts or ACT!  Having all your potential customers at your fingertips is money well spent.

Once you have all your contacts input, you can send targeted e-mails or letters to your potential clients.  Make the messages short and sweet, as well as informative.  People look forward to getting valuable information, so give it to them.  Follow up with a phone call to find out if the information was helpful and if your company can provide goods or services. 

Even the busiest entrepreneur can send 20 e-mails each month and follow up with them.  Schedule the time on your calendar to do it.

Create an “elevator pitch.”  Try to pare down your company’s products and services to a sentence or two.  Start by writing down what you do and then edit.  This is a great exercise, especiall